Charisteas stops Spain surge

by Matthew Spiro from Estádio do Bessa Século XXI

Group A rivals Spain and Greece remain on course for the quarter-finals after they followed up their opening UEFA EURO 2004™ victories by drawing an intense encounter.

Scintillating football
Spain were made to toil hard in the afternoon heat by a determined Greece team, but still took the lead with a clinically-taken Fernando Morientes strike just before the half-hour. Iñaki Sáez’s team went on to play some scintillating football but failed to kill Greece off and paid a price when Angelos Charisteas levelled matters midway through the second half.

Unchanged team
Sáez named an unchanged team, with Juan Carlos Valerón starting on the bench again despite his goalscoring cameo against Russia in Saturday's 1-0 win. Rubén Baraja and David Albelda continued their alliance in midfield, while Raúl González and Morientes played up front, supported by wingers Joseba Etxeberria and Vicente Rodríguez.

One switch
Greece made one alteration from the side that upset Portugal 2-1, with Konstantinos Katsouranis replacing Angelis Basinas in midfield. There was no room for fit-again Themistoklis Nikolaidis, as Zisis Vryzas and Charisteas kept their places in attack. Spain started brightly but with Katsouranis following Raúl's every move and Theodoros Zagorakis doubling up on right-back Georgios Seitaridis to stifle the threat of Vicente, space was at a premium.

Work ethic
Raúl escaped the attentions of Katsouranis for long enough to pick out Raúl Bravo's run into the penalty area on 14 minutes, but the full-back was denied by a splendid tackle from back-tracking forward Charisteas, epitomising the Greek work ethic.

Morientes opener
The one-way traffic continued as Greece defended in numbers, and Iván Helguera had already squandered a chance from Vicente's free-kick when Spain took the lead on 28 minutes. Mihalis Kapsis lost possession to Raúl on the edge of the penalty area and the Spain captain cut the ball back for Morientes, who jinked inside Katsouranis before striking a low shot past Antonios Nikopolidis.

Vryzas volley
The goal injected more urgency into Greece's play and Otto Rehhagel's team finished the first half on top, with Stylianos Giannakopoulos, in particular, breaking forward well, but Vryzas's wayward volley from the right side of the penalty area after 42 minutes was the closest they came to drawing level before the interval.

Fractionally wide
First-half bookings for Spain defender Carlos Marchena and Greece's Georgios Karagounis ruled them out of the concluding Group A games on Sunday but the action showed no sign of slowing after the break. First Raúl headed Carles Puyol's pass over the goalkeeper but wide of the post, then Zagorakis hit a raking, long-range shot fractionally wide at the other end.

Gaps appearing
Greece sent on Nikolaidis and Vasilios Tsiartas to try to unsettle their opponents, and Zagorakis soon stung the palms of Iker Casillas with another powerful drive. The game began to open up, with gaps appearing on the flanks, and Raúl headed over after substitute Joaquín Sánchez had picked him out unmarked at the far post on 54 minutes.

Charisteas leveller
Dellas looped a header on to the roof of the net from Tsiartas' corner on 64 minutes, but two minutes later Greece were level. Tsiartas showed fantastic vision to pick out Charisteas in the penalty area with a crossfield pass and the SV Werder Bremen forward controlled it instantly before squeezing his shot under Casillas.

Curling cross-shot
Spain strived to find a winner in the closing stages, throwing on Fernando Torres for the last ten minutes, but Joaquín's curling cross-shot wide of the far post was their most dangerous moment as Greece held out for a precious point.

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